Rutgers' Wenzel rejects S. CarolinaRutgers University...

Sports briefly

Rutgers University basketball coach Bob Wenzel announced yesterday that he has turned down an offer to coach at South Carolina.

Towson State coach Terry Truax applied for the job but was not interviewed by the search committee.

Wenzel, a South Carolina assistant under Bill Foster during the 1980-81 season, said he decided against taking the job after consulting with his wife.

"It came down to a gut feeling that this was the best thing for me and my family," said Wenzel, a Rutgers graduate who has coached the Scarlet Knights since 1988.

* NCAA officials have recommended the Final Four in women's basketball be held at the Richmond (Va.) Coliseum in 1994.

Virginia Commonwealth would be the host of the tournament on April 2-3, 1994. The recommendation must be approved by the NCAA Executive Committee on Aug. 12-13.

Pro basketball

The New York Knicks, involved in a salary dispute with center Patrick Ewing, are considering filing tampering charges with the NBA against the Golden State Warriors, according to a published report.

The New York Times, quoting an anonymous source, reported in today's editions that Ewing's agent may have persuaded the Warriors to restructure forward Chris Mullin's contract to help his client.

Ewing's 10-year contract signed in 1985 contains a clause that allows him to become a restricted free agent this off-season if he is not among the four highest-paid players in the NBA. If that occurs, Ewing would be free to negotiate with other teams, with the Knicks retaining the right to match any offer and keep him.

The newspaper quoted a source close to the Knicks as saying they believe that before deciding on arbitration, agent David Falk persuaded the Warriors to raise Mullin to $3.2 million next season. That would exclude Ewing as one of the top-four salaried players.

Senior Olympics

Myron Hunsinger, 80, of Perry Hall won the singles gold medal last week at Flamingo Bowl in Syracuse, N.Y.

Hunsinger had a high game of 212. He teamed with Joe Simpson of Louisiana to finish fourth in doubles.

Tennis

Austria's Horst Skoff beat sixth-seeded Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), in the first round of the $305,000 Swiss Open in Gstaad.

* Paul Annacone beat Henrik Holm of Sweden, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), in the first round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I.

Annacone, ranked 280th in the world, hadn't played in singles since October because of an injury to his left big toe, which underwent surgery in January.

* Mikael Pernfors of Sweden, a first-round loser in the clay-court Swedish Open in Bastad three times since 1986, beat Juan Aguilera of Spain, 6-3, 6-3.

* Qualifier Alex O'Brien upset fourth seed Markus Zoecke of Germany, 6-3, 7-5, in the first round of the Pilot Pen Open tournament in New Haven, Conn.

Steroids

In what police believe is the nation's largest investigation of its kind, 19 people were arrested and three gymnasiums were seized yesterday in "Operation 'Roid Raid," a four-month Phoenix police undercover probe into illegal steroid use and sales.

Among the people arrested was Thomas Ruffino, holder of two major bodybuilding titles for steroid-free competitors. Ruffino, who was accused of being a major dealer of illegal anabolic steroids, had said as recently as Friday that he never used the drugs to pump up his 5-foot-8, 205-pound frame.

"I just got caught up in something I shouldn't have been doing," he said yesterday from a holding cell. "What can I say?"

Bobsledding

TC

A three-man bobsled push team including world-class sprinter Edwin Moses and NFL receiver Willie Gault was nosed out at the Lee National Bobsled Push Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The winning team of Todd Snavely, Bryan Leturgez and Jeff Woodard put together times of 5.11, 5.09 and 5.10 seconds for their three attempts. With the victory, the athletes qualified as the top pushers for the 1991-92 World Cup team and the 1992 Olympic Team.

Bowling

John Hricsina and Rich Holden were one-two after the first round of the St. Clair PBA Senior Open in O'Fallon, Ill.

Hricsina, the 1990 Senior Player of the Year, averaged 229 for six games, same as Holden, but finished with a pin count of 1,377, two ahead of his Pennsylvania rival.

Hockey

Thieves smashed a display case at the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame recently and made off with several treasured items.

Among the memorabilia stolen from the Winnipeg facility were a Chicago Blackhawks sweater worn by Billy Mosienko, a Los Angeles Kings jersey belonging to Butch Goring and a Minnesota North Stars jersey worn by Bill Masterton.

Golf

A South Carolina dentist pleaded guilty to a federal charge of plotting to counterfeit admittance badges to the Masters.

William James Biggins, 36, of Camden, S.C., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Augusta, Ga., to conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and services. He had been scheduled for trial this week.

Soccer

Bora Milutinovic, a former Yugoslav midfielder, may not speak English well, but he has conveyed an important message to the U.S. soccer team -- how to win.

Since Milutinovic took over the U.S. team in April, the Americans have a 6-1-1 record, a five-game winning streak that is their longest since such records were first kept in 1885, and their first major championship -- in the inaugural CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. The Americans beat Honduras on penalty kicks to win the title late Sunday night.

"I'm very happy with our team's play," said Milutinovic, speaking one of his five languages, Spanish. "After all of this, I'm sure we will have a better team. You don't measure soccer in terms of one week, but the games that we have played, we have played without any great problems."